It was nine o"clock of the second night that Adrian and Billie, accompanied by Mr. Black"s mozo, Jose, and the ten troopers, reached the outskirts of Moreno.
They had made good headway the first night, had slept in the hills during the day and had come this far without molestation.
"If everything goes to the end as it has this far," remarked Corporal Brooks to Billie as they neared the little town, "it will be nothing but a pleasant outing, sure enough."
Arriving at the edge of the town, the boys sent Jose forward to see how the land lay and to bring them word.
"Do you think you can trust him?" asked the corporal.
"We"ll have to," replied Adrian. "I believe he is loyal, and Mr.
Black seems to have complete confidence in him."
"Let"s hope so, anyway," said Billie. "It seems to be the best we can do to get word to Mr. Black of our presence."
"Hurry back, Jose," urged Adrian as the mozo departed.
"Si, senor," was the brief reply. "You may depend on me."
"It ought not to take him more than half an hour," explained Billie. "It isn"t more than a mile."
But a half hour pa.s.sed and then another and still no Jose.
"Something must have happened to him," said Adrian.
"That"s the charitable way to look at it," laughed the corporal.
"It"s more likely, however, that he"s making arrangements to have something happen to us."
"I hardly think so," was Billie"s comment, "but, if he is, we"ll fool him."
"How?"
"We"ll move."
"But he may come back."
"We"ll leave one man here on guard. The rest of us will go around to the other side of town."
"Good!" from the corporal. "You are a strategist."
The plan was at once carried into effect.
"Now then," said Billie, "I"m going in to town myself."
"Not much," declared Adrian. "I"m going."
"I"d offer to go myself," laughed the corporal, "but I don"t know the place."
"We"ll toss for it," said Billie.
"All right," and Adrian produced a coin. "Heads I win. Tails you lose."
"No funny business," said Billie. "Choose heads if you want."
Adrian flipped the coin. It came down heads up.
"All right," agreed Billie. "Now for some set of signals."
"Our old Broncho Rider whistle if I need help," said Adrian. "If everything is O. K., I"ll give the whip-poor-will."
Adrian slid from his horse.
"What are you doing?" asked Billie.
"I"m going afoot. I didn"t spend my boyhood among the Indians for nothing. Good-bye!" and a moment later he disappeared in the fading moonlight.
"Whatever the conditions," said Billie, "we"ll soon know," as he settled back in his saddle.
Running swiftly along, Adrian made straight for the barracks in which he knew would be found whatever soldiers might be in the city.
"If I find everything quiet at the barracks," was his thought, "I can go straight to where Mr. Black is stopping without fear. If I find there is any disturbance, I"ll be more careful."
Ten minutes of running brought him to the barracks. All was as quiet as the hour demanded. He stood under the shadow of the back wall long enough to hear the sentry"s call and then he turned in the direction of the house where the two Americans were stopping.
It was only a few blocks away and he reached it without incident.
"Kind o" funny," he mused, "that I haven"t seen or heard a soul on the street. I wonder what"s become of Jose?"
He stopped a minute to ponder.
"Things are going almost too smooth. I"ll just stop a bit."
He stole past the house and a moment later threw himself into the gutter, where he lay as one dead.
The wisdom of his action soon became apparent.
He hadn"t been lying there two minutes until a solitary figure pa.s.sed him and stopped in front of the house, evidently listening to hear what might be going on inside.
A moment later he was joined by another figure. Adrian could just make them out in the darkness.
"Have they come?" was the whispered question.
"I can"t tell," was the whispered reply.
Adrian heard both the question and the answer distinctly.
"It"s Jose," he said to himself. "He knew that it was the plan for Billie and I both to come to the house. The traitor! I have a notion to shoot him in his tracks."
Only the fear of creating a disturbance kept the lad from carrying out his notion.